The Many Faces of Tea (Part 2) is part of a series of editorial artworks I created exploring tea culture.
This is a personal illustration project inspired by the article "The Many Faces of Tea", by Will Battle, published in Eighty Degrees Magazine. The article serves as an accessible introduction to the world of tea for beginners, highlighting its six main types: black, green, white, oolong, yellow, and dark tea.
I aimed to capture the essence of each type of tea by visually highlighting its unique characteristics through handmade digital illustrations that not only illustrate the article but also serve as a potential magazine cover.
To create the illustrations, I first read the article and conducted research on the topic to familiarize myself with it. Then, I decided to visually interpret each type of tea by creating associations between the teas, imaginary personalities, and their main producing countries. For example: Black Tea (intense and energetic, often from India or Sri Lanka), Green Tea (refreshing and youthful, from China or Japan), White Tea (pure and delicate, from China), Oolong Tea (complex and versatile, from China or Taiwan), Yellow Tea (exotic and exclusive, from China), and Dark Tea (deep and mysterious, from China).
See below as this illustration comes to life in the process GIF.
Then, I explored different color cover possibilities, presented below.
Following are more illustrations I created, shown in the magazine to illustrate the article.
Watch below as this illustration comes to life in the process GIF.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Stay tuned for more!
Thank you for checking out my work!
If you'd like to order a cover or an editorial illustration, feel free to connect with me on Instagram or email me at jimi.serra.illustrator@gmail.com